Architect’s table (table à la Tronchin)

ca. 1780–90

Not on view

French eighteenth-century furniture was either designed for a very specific usage or served multiple purposes. This table falls into the latter category since it could be used for writing, reading or drawing both in standing and seated positions. This table shows similarities with the multifunctional tables the German cabinetmaker David Roentgen supplied to Catherine the Great of Russia and other patrons. Called table à la Tronchin in French after the Swiss physician Théodore Tronchin, an advocate of the value of fresh air, exercise, and a moderate lifestyle, who would have recommended its use to patients who worked for many hours in a seated position.

Artwork Details

Object Information

Overview

Provenance

Title: Architect’s table (table à la Tronchin)
Maker: Jean-François Leleu (1729–1807, master 1764)
Date: ca. 1780–90
Culture: French
Medium: Mahogany and mahogany veneer on oak, gilt bronze, white metal, and leather
Dimensions: closed, confirmed: 30 1/4 × 37 3/4 × 23 1/2 in. (76.8 × 95.9 × 59.7 cm)
Classification: Woodwork-Furniture
Credit Line: Bequest of Mrs. Charles Wrightsman, 2019
Object Number: 2019.283.6
Curatorial Department: European Sculpture and Decorative Arts

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In the same medium

From the same time and place

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Rolltop desk, David Roentgen German, Oak, cherry, pine, mahogany, veneered with maple, burl woods, holly, hornbeam (all partially stained), tulipwood, mahogany, and other woods; mother-of-pearl; partially gilded and tooled leather; gilt bronze, iron, steel, brass, partially gold-lacquered brass, German, Neuwied am Rhein — Rolltop desk
David Roentgen
Designer Drawer pulls after a design by Thomas Chippendale
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ca. 1776–79

Writing table (bureau plat), Jean-François Leleu, Oak, veneered with mahogany, sycamore and holly; gilt bronze, leather, French — Writing table (bureau plat)
Jean-François Leleu
ca. 1780

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